Summer Songbird
by Witch of the Belladonna
Summary: Nikkita Selene is a strange woman. Jack encounters her one day and can't help but be drawn to her, she seems so familiar, and she is sixteen and can see him. He wants to find out her secrets, but she has a dark history and the fact that Jack is worming his way into her life is scaring her. And the relationship she has with Pitch isn't helping. Eventual JackXOC. First story. Songfic
1. Iris

Chapter One: Iris

Jack Frost flew around in the windy and snow filled Wyoming air. He loved this time of year, many kids come out and call for Jack to come play. Since the fight with Pitch, Jack had become more believed in. It started slow; Jamie and his friends told a lot of their fellow classmates. When they started to get older some stopped believing, but Jamie never forgot. He went on to publish a children's book telling of his adventure. Now, just as many children believe in Jack as the other Guardians. It's been years since then, many years in fact. Jack will never forget the day he outlived his best friend. The thought saddened him and he drifted down towards a small dinged up wooden shed. He landed on the roof gracefully, cane in hand he crouched down to look at the small town. It was quaint, not too many people, and it had a way of calming him. He visited this town often, but he could never find all the hidden secrets of the town. It was like a black hole, but it kept him entertained when he wanted time to himself. He glanced down the hill the shed was sitting a top and noticed the elementary school below had let out for Recess. He smiled to himself wondering what fun he and the kids would have today. A sudden flick invaded his ears and he instantly went on the alert. He looked below him in the shed through the many open wall panels and what he saw stunned him for a moment. A young woman was sitting on an abandoned wooden box holding a pipe to her lips and inhaling whatever it was she lit with her lighter. She breathed a huge cloud of smoke in Jack's direction and he coughed slightly. It smelled...different. He couldn't process much more of a thought because the woman toppled over the box at the sound of his coughing.

"Mother fucker!" she sighed as she spilled the remainder of what was in the pipe.

She produced a backpack from behind the box and stuffed her pipe in a purse in the biggest pocket. She then took a bottle of perfume out and sprayed herself twice then stood up and slung the backpack onto her shoulder. Her deep brown eyes went straight to Jack a stern glare on her otherwise soft features.

"You scared me half to death, you don't sneak up on a person doing that. It's something illegal here." Her voice was sharp, but somehow still melodic.

Jack only stared quizzically. Her. She could see him. Nobody her age believed in him. She scoffed and rolled her eyes walking out one of the walls and to the dirt road beside the shed. He had to talk to her, find out why she could feel him. Somehow. Jack quickly willed the wind to take him in her direction. She was walking down the path towards a paved road and sidewalk which turned into a neighborhood and on the opposite side went past a high school. He drifted down to her eye level and stopped her in her tracks.

"Where you going little piece of heaven?" he attempted to be flirty to at least get her attention somehow.

"Go home." She put bluntly and continued her path around the frost spirit.

He followed her on a soft breeze and smirked calling,

"I don't want to go home right now!"

She turned around and shrugged her shoulders, her waist length brown hair loosely shifting around her body.

"Too bad. Leave me alone."

She turned on her heel and stepped onto the sidewalk and making her way towards the school. Jack wasn't going to give up that easily, all he seemed to want was this brief moment. The fire, the LIFE in her was interesting, and nobody his age -well appearance wise- was able to see him. He wanted to enjoy it, breathe it in before it went out like a candle in the short passage of time. It would all be over sooner or later.

He's still following her, and it's irritating. Being oogled at by people was not something she enjoyed. She wished the world couldn't see her anymore. Nobody understood here; spirits, however, have been good confidantes for many years to her. Maybe she should indulge the the boy and once he's done he'll get off her case and she can finish smoking her bowl in peace.

'He just wants to know who I am' she thought slowing down and biting her lip, the marijuana clouding her vision slightly.

Jack lazily drifted down in front of her for she stopped, seemingly deep in thought. She looked up at him and searched his face, contemplating whether or not to talk to him.

"May I ask you name? Maybe then I won't have to call you heaven" Jack chuckled giving up on trying to flirt.

She shrugged again and held out her hand to shake his,

"Nikkita Selene. Call me Nikki."

"Different"

"Yeah..." She took her hand back after he shook it and tucked it into the pocket of her black leather jacket.

They stood there in silence for a moment before Jack piped up again,

"So? Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"How can you see me?" Jack leaned on his cane.

"Um..." Nikki trailed off.

The memories were too painful to talk about. Not now. He looked at her concerned, she hadn't noticed her eyes were filled with tears.

"It's just-from the book about you and the Guardians..." Nikki lied.

She looked away from him to her right; a few tears fell from her face. However, she suddenly perked up and wiped her face hoping he wasn't at least looking straight at her. Jack didn't want to pry since it seemed to bother her. He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Nikki turned back to him and smiled at him. She motioned for him to follow her, it was still early, she could walk and smoke a cigarette, and after he left, she could go home and get ready for the party tonight. She pulled out her Marlboro Black cigarettes and her lighter; proceeding to put a cigarette to her lips and lighting it. Nikki knew smoking would take about six minutes off her life for each cancer stick, but she wanted to torture herself in a way...

'Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive.' She thought wryly pulling up the hood of her black jacket underneath her leather one.

The thought of staying home crossed her mind as she dreamily looked at the clouds. The world seemed almost too big for her, it didn't understand...However, she affirmed to go see Sky and Tess at the party. Her Dad would get on her case as soon as she got home, and that always led to bad things. She inhaled a puff of her cigarette absentmindedly.

Jack didn't know whether or not he offended her. She obviously had problems with the subject, but he was just so curious about her. They were walking down the sidewalk and he couldn't help but stare. She lazily looked around and smoked her cigarette then pulled up her hood. Yeah, he definitely offended her. He was mentally kicking himself when she looked up at him shyly. She spoke softly, the sound ringing in Jack's ears,

"When we get to my house, do you mind waiting outside while I change?"

"Uh, yeah, sure" Jack's voice faltered.

She smiled walking across the street they came up to, then turned right into a neighborhood. Jack followed her on a gust of wind and landed in front of her. Nikki accidentally bumped into him and looked up into his blue eyes.

"Sorry if I upset you."

"Oh it's fine," she said half-heartedly. "We're coming up to my house."

She gestured to a small white house with a neat yard, covered in snow. It almost looked like it belonged on the front of a Christmas card. Jack followed her as she walked to the house and up to the door. He politely leaned on the garage door as she walked inside after flashing him a quick smile. His eyes looked around the neighborhood looking at the cookie cutter houses. It was still early, but the clouds darkened making it seem like late afternoon. A car suddenly drove up and parked across the street. It was violently purple and obviously a sports car like model. The driver seemed to be waiting. Ten minutes later, Nikki walked out the door looking very dark against the pale snow. She wore a black underbust corset with a long sleeve grey button up shirt, bleached blue shorts and black legging with black boots and black fishnet gloves. In her hair she wore fake black dreadlocks that contrasted with her light brown hair. Her look was topped off with a full face of gothic looking makeup. Jack watched as she strode up to the purple car and waited for the driver to to roll down his window. They exchanged words and Nikki walked back over to Jack.

"I was going to a party, and I still need to pick up some friends. Do you want to come with?" She asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

"Sure," He said looking over to the car. "Do you have a seat in the car?"

"Yeah." She said her cheeks flushing as the wind picked up again.

Nikki took his hand and walked him over to the car. He noticed a spark of emotion flood through his body as she took him over to the, now music blaring, vehicle. The driver was a man, no older than twenty, with a beanie over his dark black curls. Nikki opened the backseat door for Jack to get in. The driver nodded at him. It seemed to be his way of greeting. Before Jack could question the man, Nikki got into the passenger side and complained loudly.

"Paramore? Really?" She said.

"What do you suggest then, your highness?" He drawled smirking at her.

She punched him on the shoulder roughly and he didn't flinch. Then, she reached down into his lap and plucked his phone from his left hand and scrolled through the screen and picked a song. A soft guitar picked up and she placed the phone back where it was then turned to buckle her seatbelt. The driver watched her out of the corner of his green eyes. Once she was done, he shifted the car in gear and took off speeding down the road.

"And you were getting on my case. This is really old school." the driver chuckled at Nikki.

"Shut up, I have a soft spot for this band, Brendan." Nikki countered.

Jack stayed quite silent. They were playfully bantering and he didn't want to interrupt. They eventually got onto the highway when Jack could hear Nikki just barely singing to the end of the song.

"I just want you to know who I am." She sang over and over in time with the song.

Jack felt as if she was speaking to him because he looked up at the mirror and noticed her piercing eyes upon his reflection. Deep down he felt a small flutter, and for a fleeting second he thought he knew her from somewhere. But he ignored it and smirked at her, internally breathing a sigh of relief when she smiled back.


	2. Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites

Chapter Two: Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

The rest of the car ride was silent, for the most part, except the rock music blaring out the open front windows. Nikki sat smoking another cigarette, the smoke rolling off her lips and out the window. They were currently driving around a new neighborhood; a trailer park. The driver, Brendan, drifted through the streets lazily looking for a certain house. Once they came upon a dingy blue trailer, a teenage girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes instantly ran out the front door and up to the car. She was dressed kind of like Nikki with dark blue jeans, a band shirt, a beanie, and a full face of makeup.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed excitedly, jumping into the car and completely ignoring Jack. "I convinced my Mom I was sick and she went to work. I also told her that Tessa was picking me up for a sleepover, that should cover me for the night, right?"

"You'll be fine," Brendan sighed putting the car into motion again. "Just don't drunk text your Mom this time, she hates me enough already!" He added with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh please," Nikki chimed in, "You know that was your fault!"

"Yeah, hey Nikki, who's this?" the girl asked finally taking notice of Jack's presence.

"Oh yeah." Nikki said throwing her cigarette out the window and turned around. "Sky, this is Jack. Jack, Sky."

"Oh," Sky said turning her attention back to Nikki "So where's Tessa?"

"We're picking her up at school." Nikki said dismissively pulling something out of her sleeve.

Jack noticed it was her pipe from earlier. She pulled a pill bottle full of green stuff out of her pocket and proceeded to stuff some into the pipe. Nikki cast a glance to the back seat and held up the pipe.

"Do you mind if me and Brendan pre-game?" She asked to nobody in particular.

"Go ahead," Sky sighed looking over to Jack.

"Um, no, that's fine..." Jack muttered. The look Nikki was giving him made him nervous to tell her no; she seemed excited and giddy.

She smiled, shrugged, and turned up the music before smoking from the pipe. The song was making the car shake with the bass. Jack hadn't heard this song before, not many children listen to dubstep. After blowing out a relatively large puff of smoke, Nikki passed the pipe over to Brendan who put it in his lap as she lit up another cigarette. Jack's left eye twitched slightly and he couldn't help his outburst,

"Why are you smoking another one? Those things will kill you, are you even old enough to smoke?"

Nikki turned back just enough for Jack to see her raise her eyebrow as if debating to justify his questions with answers. Before she had the chance to speak, however, Brendan spoke up after taking a quick hit from the pipe.

"Jesus, you don't need to act like her mother..." he strangled out finally, coughing out a pitiful cloud of smoke.

"Brendan!" Sky squeaked uncomfortably darting her eyes over to Nikki.

Jack became suddenly aware of the growing tension oozing from Nikki. She seemed unbothered by the statement on the outside, but Jack could tell she was hiding a great pain. The way she stared out at the road and let her cigarette burn, wasting away...Jack knew that look all too well. Brendan looked pained as he gave her pipe back.

"Nik, I'm sorry..." he said softly.

"Oh save it. My mom's been dead for years, so what? You don't need to apologize. Now, can we fucking drop it?" Nikki snarled throwing the cigarette out the window, and sparking her lighter to smoke from the pipe.

Sky looked uncertainly between Brendan and Nikki, they sat in silence, and Jack was dealing with the sinking feeling that continued to deepen with every moment. He knew that look all right. Loss.

"Hey, Sky, put on some Set it Off" Nikki finally said after a period of awkward silence, unplugging and passing the AUX cord to the younger teen.

"What song?" Sky asked, tentatively taking the cord and plugging it into her phone.

"Well, we're almost at the school, so play Wolf in Sheep's Clothing; Tess likes that one."

"Sure," Sky said softly pulling up the song.

A guitar riff filled the car as Brendan turned into the middle school across the street from the high school Jack met Nikki. Brendan parked the car in the back parking lot and turned up the music then leaned back against the seat closing his eyes. Jack took notice of his clenched fists on the steering wheel. Everyone was suddenly quiet just listening to the rock music pump out the speakers. Nikki passed the pipe over to Brendan and he took another hit. The two of them continued in silence until Nikki looked distastefully at the, now empty, pipe and hid it in the glove compartment of the car. In the distance, a teen girl came running from the building towards the car with a smile plastered on her face. Her red flannel flapped behind her as it took no time for her to arrive at the driver side window. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and looked like it was dyed reddish pink months ago. She tapped happily on the glass, getting Brendan's attention. He rolled down the window just enough to fit a small piece of trash through and smirked at the teen girl.

"Took you long enough Tessa!" Brendan laughed locking the doors as the girl moved to the passenger door.

"You asshole! Let me in! I hear Set it Off and I want to go to the party!" she screamed at the chuckling brunette.

"Hell no!"

He put the car in gear and drove two yards forward towards the exit, but stopped suddenly and unlocked the doors. Tessa ran over and jumped into the car before Brendan could tease her more. When she was seated on the opposite side of Jack she swiftly punched him in the arm and squealed playfully,

"You fuck muffin! How dare you?!"

"Shut up, you missed most of the song anyways and that's what you get for being a bitch" Brendan said shrugging.

"You're a bitch!"

"Girls, girls, we're all pretty here," Nikki finally spoke, as if the previous conversation never happened.

"Let's just get to the party" Sky sighed, exasperated.

"Ah, fine..." Brendan said taking off through the parking lot and down the road. He eventually turned right at the next stoplight, picking up speed as they headed towards the outskirts of town.

"So where are you taking me?" Jack finally asked, debating on whether to politely excuse himself or stay.

"To a party?" Tessa said looking at Jack like he was a foreign object.

"I know that, but where specifically?" Jack said looking to Nikki, hoping she wouldn't stare at him strangely.

"A little past the city limits to a friends house." Nikki put vaguely.

She turned around to look Jack in his clear blue eyes,

"Do you want to leave?"

Jack thought for a moment. He tended to stick to a routine: bring snow to the parts of the world he needed, play with some of the children, and usually after that he would drift about with no real tasks in mind. Occasionally he would bother North or Bunny, visit Tooth, or watch Sandman bring dreams to the children. For the most part, he never went out with other people. There was no one who'd see him, and yet, all four of these teenagers saw him. It felt nice to be included in fun, almost adult, things, and this opportunity has never been given to him before. Blue eyes met golden brown ones and Jack affirmed his choice was right.

"No," Jack sighed, "I just don't really know how to interact with people your age, I'm always around kids."

Tessa cast a questioning glance over to Jack and looked at Sky. Nikki's features softened as she smiled at Jack.

"Stick with me," she said soothingly, "I'm gonna be dancing for the most part, so just hang with me and we can chat. Not many people are going to see you anyways, if any."

Sky gasped suddenly and looked at Jack with eyes almost as big as dinner plates. Jack looked from Sky to Tessa who had the same look. Brendan looked in the mirror questioningly at Jack until his face, too, became pale and full of shock.

"What?" Jack asked fiddling with his staff uncomfortably.

"You're Jack Frost! The winter spirit!" Sky exclaimed excitedly, her interest in him suddenly increasing ten-fold.

"The one and only," Jack laughed winking at Sky.

She blushed and used sign language to say something to Tessa, who responded in sign.

"They do that; we kind of all do." Nikki laughed at Jack's expression of dumbfoundedness.

"Maybe one of you guys could teach me, you'd be surprised how many deaf children I come across. I would love to be able to communicate with them."

"Of course!" Tessa chimed in. "Sky and I can teach you everything we know."

Jack smiled and nodded in agreement. After about ten minutes on the road, Brendan turned into a neighborhood of few homes. However, this was obviously a rich neighborhood as each house had at least a plot of land of five acres or bigger. Jack marveled at the quaintness of the cowboy town as Brendan continued down various roads making lefts and rights until they came upon a house which was definitely the party location. The driveway was filled entirely with various cars of every expensive make and model. Brendan pulled in and parked by the wooden bear statue at the end of the driveway. All five of them got out of the car and started down the long driveway path. With each step closer, Jack could hear dubstep music pouring out of the windows, which teens kept passing by, beers in hand. He suddenly felt awkward; was he really going into a party with a bunch teenagers? Not only that, but a party with beer and God knows what else? Jack's bare feet faltered in the gravel and he paused for a moment staring at the house. The four teens continued on excitedly without him, leaving Jack to his swimming thoughts.

'I just sat in a car with them as they smoked illegal drugs, I don't think leaving would make it any better.' Jack contemplated.

His eyes drifted up from the ground back to the house. The song eventually died away and a new, old rock sounding, song came on. He recognized this one for some reason, it was Everlong by the Foo Fighters. Jamie had liked this song when he grew older and it was on the radio a lot.

Jamie...

Jack hadn't had a friend in a long while, things may be different now, but Jack realized he had felt just as lonely without Jamie as he did three hundred and fifty-six years ago. He needed someone, anyone, to help him with his crippling loneliness. Even if it means being around a bunch of dumb, drunk, most likely delinquent, teens at this house party. With some determination, he walked to the front door and through the crowded living room. It was easy to find Sky and Tessa signing to each other by the non alcoholic drinks; Nikki was right, no one seemed to have believed in him. Not surprising. He walked his way over to the girls, drunk teens spilling their drinks on the floor as they stumbled straight through the spirit.

"Do you guys know where I can find Nikki?" Jack asked Tessa.

"Yeah, but I'm surprised you even came in, we saw you hesitating in the driveway and figured you wanted to go back to kid-land." Tessa laughed.

Sky elbowed her in the side, earning a very loud and crude word, and said to Jack,

"What she means is since you've only been around kids for hundreds of years, we thought you'd be uncomfortable being around teenagers. Especially ones of this day and age"

She motioned towards a group of guys doing a keg stand in the open concept kitchen off towards the left. Jack furrowed his brows and turned away as the chants of 'chug, chug, chug!' grew louder.

"So where is Nikki?" he asked again.

"She's probably in the back bedroom, that's the smoking room" Tessa said emphasizing the word 'smoking'.

"Come on, we'll show you," Sky insisted grabbing Jack's jacket sleeve and pulling him through the hall to a door in the back of the house.

Sky released him and winked at him with a smirk as Tessa mock-bowed to him. He faced the door, turned the knob, and walked in. It was dark at first, but then Jack realized the room was full of black lights and had a DJ stand with a seizure inducing light show just off the right in a smaller corner of the large room. The room was more crowded than any other room, and a heavy cloud of marijuana smoke hung low over the glowstick clad teens. The smell was so pungent that Jack covered his nose with his jacket sleeve and proceeded through the room passing through numerous people as they bumped into each other dancing. He finally found Nikki dancing in the center of the dance floor, a joint in hand.

"Hey!" he called to her, or at least he tried, the music wasn't helping at all.

Jack pushed his way through the thick crowd finally taking notice of Nikki's dancing. He paused for a moment to watch. She swayed her hips to the beat of the song which had brief periods of upbeat and fast tempo as well as softer moments. The beat dropped and she did with it, slowly bringing her ass back up and turning to face Jack. The music slowed down a bit again, as much as dubstep can anyways, and Nikki turned to Jack smiling. Jack blushed and turned away. Nikki outstretched her right hand to him as if asking him to take it. He looked back up at her, her lips now moving to the lyrics, smoke pouring out from a recent hit she took. He barely heard her sing,

"You don't need to hide my friend, for I am just like you..."

The song faded into piano notes and beats, but Jack's heart was beating much faster. He took her hand and she laughed genuinely and brought him close for the next dance. He smiled to himself; this may be the start of a wonderful friendship.


End file.
